FWIW, with the confirmation of Tibbits, I have switched over to a Factotum, a lazily curious tomb-robber type (small cat vs. pressure plate usually results in cat 1, pressure plate 0 unless the trap-designers were really inspired, and hey, trip-wires are less of an issue when your eye level is only 8-10" above the floor) whose fingers silver simply will not stick to. Any wealth she can't carry gets transformed into fun...That's what it's for, right?

Fox, are there any particular languages that might be appropriate to a scholar of ancient tongues? Or should I just pick from the usual AD&D list and adjust accordingly?

"Sandy" is a seeker after curiousities, a devourer of stories, lore, and knowledge for its own sake, preferably acquired first-hand from the libraries of the people who discovered it. To be more factual (and a bit less couth), she's a tomb robber.

She was born in the Western Desert, one of a small clan of ragamuffin tibbits who made their way in lazy migration from oasis to oasis, taking shelter from the sun in whatever caves or ruins were best available. Sandy was dangerously curious even for a tibbit, and got into trouble more than once as a kitten for sneaking off and wriggling her way into cracks and crevices that adults couldn't get through. More than once she found amazing things: walls covered with unreadable inscriptions; statues of ancient and terrible kings; scrolls of time-browned hardened parchment that crackled beneath her paws; and here and there, the warm glitter of gold, long-lost to the daylight. Punishment made her sulky and more careful about concealing her little exploring ventures and the tidbits of glitter and polished stone that she brought back with her. Eventually, like so many young tibbets, she left the clan to go wandering.

As she'd been told, the cities of the other peoples were loud, noisy, and crowded. Mice were easy to catch, and so long as she were careful in her judgement of character, tummyrubs and ear-scritches were available in plenty. She learned the hard way that yes, as her parents had foretold, most of the humanoid-folk would be frightened into violence if they saw her shift shape, and also that yes, they were often equally violent about enforcing the wearing of coverings when going about on two legs. She adapted...She was good at adapting...And she learned, something she was even better at.

The most wonderful thing about cities, however, were libraries. They weren't always easy to get into - in some places one could simply walk right in and ask for things to read, in others it was better to wait until nightfall and exercise discretion and stealth - but they were always worthwhile. She learned to read at a phenomenal pace, absorbing tomes and scrolls on diverse random subjects.

And then the few bits of gold and shiny baubles she'd brought with her ran out, and she was banned even from the 'open' libraries. Well, that was fine, she knew where there were more to be found, and when those ran out some of the books in some of the collections she had read hinted at other lost treasures from the beforetimes.

Whatever it took to keep the wine, the catnip, and the earscritches coming, she was determined to do it.

As time went by, she collected tools to aid her, and devoted more time to studying specific things - the construction of pressure plates, for example, was something it had never occurred to her to research until one very nearly killed her. She often found herself making multiple forays out to ancient sites, solving one puzzle or opening one door only to find herself driven back to the great libraries to try to research the safest means of proceeding. Too, it was rare for her to be able to carry off much of what she found. More than once, she returned to a rich treasure-room only to discover that others had been there in the meantime and cleaned it out. Occasionally, she even encountered some of these others, and learned just how untrustworthy they were. Investment in armor and weapons training was added to her other pursuits while in the city.

As gold and jewels opened more doors or attracted the attention of others, she also found herself pursuing a wide range of males and females to aid in her relaxation. There weren't too many who complained once she made her intentions known.

...And after all, what was the point of all the books and baubles and dusty old rooms, if not to provide more opportunities to enjoy life?

(I'm still hunting around for a decent picture for her humanoid form...Suffice for now to say that she looks like a very small desert-elf or sand-elf, not much more than a meter tall, with cinnamony skin and grey-shot brown hair.)

Asherati (Rewrite): These proud and hardy desert-dwellers have spread out in a diaspora across the world's forlorn places - a migration pattern that, traced by certain competent scholars, would put its original epicenter deep at the heart of the Dustlands. The Asherati tend to be both taller and sturdier than humans, with skin in a vivid range of hues across the spectrum between scarlet red and midnight blue, and their features are vaguely reminiscent of a mix of the brutal orcish visage and the more graceful countenance of elves. They have one especially curious trait: though physically hairless, many Asherati men and some women grow a kind of "hair" made of faint light in the various shades of flame, which they tend, style, and even cut by clever use of mirror-glass.

Glass is important to the Asherati; they build their buried temple-cities from it, using cunning artifice to blow whole caverns from melted sand, which often include at least one inverted pyramid sanctified to Solanil and filled with "greenhouse" horticulture. Culturally, they favor loose theocracies full of debate and philosophical discussion, proud warrior traditions emphasizing the skill and discipline of individuals over regimented soldiers or grand armies, and feel a close connection to fire in various literal and conceptual incarnations. Concepts of cold, water, and necromancy - the three are intrinsically linked for the Asherati - are considered perverse and have spawned a thriving counterculture movement emblemized by the occasional chilled bathhouse - a symbol of rebellion and, to many, revulsion for all but foreigners of other races, who often find such accouterments to be a rare delight in the perpetually-warm cities of the Asherati (who are more tolerant of tourist use - and revenue - than their own social dissidents).

They have a fondness for opulence and comfort but take an oddly fatalist view of wealth: "All things are transient," claim their philosopher-priests, "and one day even the immortal gods will be as dust howling through empty wastes. Live today as richly as you can, for the desert of infinity will make paupers of us all tomorrow. Only when the deserts grow as green as the oceans are blue may we trust in a work of permanence." Such is the wisdom Solanil has helped bring to the Asherati.

(According to 100% of Asherati in actual-play, the sole purpose of the Asherati are to become dry liches at level 13 and rock out forever. This is admittedly awesome, but I've always felt they had a little more potential than that.)

--------------------Description:She's quite tall. Most men look up at her, rather than the other way around. Few have seen her face, so rumour abounds as to whether she's horribly ugly or stunningly beautiful, or something inbetween - the truth ... well, the truth is somewhere inbetween. Her eyes flash blue and gold, although they appear black. Her hair also picks up gold and blue highlights, and some red, although it, too is black. Her skin is clear, a dusky bronze that does not seem to have any other unusual properties, other than a few scars.Like most of the locals, she wears flowing robes made from the local rough-silk and cottons. Hide armor makes up at least one of the layers, if she's expecting trouble, and she generally carries a spear - a finely crafted weapon, indeed.

Background:Even she doesn't know the entire story of her background - there are things her mother never told her before fever took her, and Eshana has never met her father, not that she is entirely certain which version of the story that Surlana told her is true. Either Zijian is a dragon, or he's a drifter that passed through, or ... Eshana has been looking for the answer to that question, and a handful of others ever since.A drifter, well known to the locals as that 'sun-crazy druid', and to some few as a guide, or a healer, Eshana has been living in or around town for a long time. While she's not sun-crazed, she is certainly unusual.

Nothing in particular. Feel free to choose any existing gods to bring in, or if you're feeling excessively creative, make something up. Nothing broken though, as far as domains and such go.

I once, for a game, invented Dibs: The god of Greed, Commerce and Wealth. For example. It basically just made calling 'dibs' on good items an actual thing, especially among those in touch with the divine.

Then again, that game had someone playing a Tauric Polarbear (Upper body of a man, lower body of a polarbear, like a centaur) Were-polarbear. So he could either look like a polarbear-centaur, or have the upper body of a werepolarbear, or just be a polarbear. It got silly, rather quickly.

Gosh, I hope not those first two. A harsh desert wasteland full of aberrations and dark powers sounds like a fantastic setting for psionics - maybe even its origin point? - and something about deserts in general just makes me feel all tingly about esoteric martial arts and thrilling sword duels, the stalwart legionnaire and master of Army of One facing off across a grinning half dozen of efreet Desert Wind stylists...

(also they are so fun)

Well...yeah. Because Dark Sun is amazing and should have been officially reprinted for 3.5

Dragon girls can be cute. Even small dragon girls. I just would rather avoid people trying to swing a +3 to Int Wis and Chraisma by being 500 years old -.-

I just feel obligated to point out that the +3 to all three mental stats without any drawbacks is only a tiny little point to the tip of a much larger iceberg of cheese involved in a Dragonwrought Kobold.

While I think Golden Ager would be awesome in this setting, considering the story line. I don't think I'll allow Wedded to History. Having a character that old would go a long way towards spoiling the storyline.

I'm thinking of following the steampunk aspects of your intro: playing a midshipman on an airship, who has joined the expedition for knowledge, adventure, and the hope of a nice find that will fund an airship of their own.

Also, on the same lines, would you allow use of pistols (I would just follow the rules for crossbows)?

I am currently working on a divine caster that is based loosely on the cleric so I will send that to you via email or dropbox if you wish or I can try to fill it out on here but it is very close to being done One question though is will you allow Catfolk into this?